A MIDLAND waste firm has been fined for exporting more than 800 tonnes of plastic packaging to China without seeking environmental approval.

Greenstar Environmental Limited, based in Aldridge, is licensed to export waste to France but was found to have send a shipment to the Far East during a routine audit.

Environment Agency prosecutors said it was impossible to tell if the waste had been treated properly without causing harm to the environment or human health.

Greenstar pleaded guilty to a charge under the Producer Responsibility Obligations Regulations and said the incident was an ‘oversight’.

An Environment Agency spokesman, speaking after the case at Walsall Magistrates’ Court, said: “This is an unusual prosecution in that it relates to an accredited exporter rather than a producer of packaging waste.

“We cannot say whether the waste was treated appropriately, without harm to the environment or human health, because the company could not provide any evidence of the environmental standards to which the Chinese site was operating.

“We hope this case will prove a deterrent to others. We will not hesitate to prosecute when circumstances warrant it.”

The firm was fined £3,500, ordered to pay £4,864 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

A solicitor for the company said more stringent controls were in place and the oversight would not be repeated.